In bad weather much water, snow, mud and the like are brought into automobiles on the footwear of the driver and passengers of automobiles. If provision is not made for draining and collecting such fluids away from the area on the automobile floor immediately below where the driver and passengers place their feet, such water, melted snow, fluid mud and the like will then simply sink into and rot the automobile floor carpet and eventually corrode the floor of the vehicle. In addition, and especially as the result of a deep snow, puddles of water can form into which the driver's or passenger's pant cuffs or long dresses could dip and thereby become soiled.
There are a number of prior art patents which have proposed solutions for this problem and which show various means for collecting and/or draining off water and snow melt from footwear, none of which proposed solutions are considered completely satisfactory. Examples of these patented devices are shown in: U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,650,855 to Peirce; 3,149,875 to Stata; 3,284,836 to Ioppolo; 4,211,447 to DiVincenzo; 4,280,729 to Morawski and 4,420,180 to Dupont. U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,048 to Mitchell shows the securing of a floor mat to a carpet material by means of Velcro.RTM. (hook and loop type fastener) pads.